You too can become a ‘millionaire’ farmer

By Aruna Lolani 17 July 2017, 12:00AM

We can be rich if we want to. We just have to know how to make our own wealth. 

That is the belief of Maselino Alai of Leulumoega-uta and Satapuala. 

He’s the father of six children. 

“You know people call me a millionaire,” he tells the Village Voice team.

“It’s true. I mean I’m not bragging or anything but people really call me the millionaire and you want to know why? 

“It’s because of the plantation of vegetables I have and the money I earn from it.

“That is my life; a life I’m trying in to survive from because my plantation of cucumbers and cabbages has been my source of income as long as I could remember. 

“My children are all in school because of the money from the plantation.

“It’s the fastest way to make money.

He added “There’s a flea market in front of my land where people sell the fruits of their plantations and honestly most of the time I ran out of cucumbers and cabbages before the end of the day and the demand just keeps on coming in.

According to Maselino, he packs 18-20 packages of cucumbers a day and sell it for $8 and $10 and with that, he earns $120 or over from that. 

“I sell it for $8 and $10 but people still buy it because they know it’s worth it. 

“The same with my cabbages which costs $3 a bundle. “But sometimes when I’m lazy I just tell people this ‘ tomorrow is another day’.

Maselino said one of his good times was during the Annual General Assembly at Malua.

“I earned a lot from that event.

“It was the busiest time for me; a lot of people demanded cucumbers and I had to work as twice to get them what they needed. The flea market is my witness.

“I’ve done this for so many years and with that experience, I’ve gained knowledge on ideas on how to grow and develop this in a unique way for people to keep wanting it over and over again. 

“I can only tell you this that I only use fertilizers and other chemicals to get rid of snails.

“That’s why to me, I think farmers are millionaires; earning much more than any employee working for any other company.

“This is our wealth; we just got to know how to work it.”

By Aruna Lolani 17 July 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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